An official said the government wanted to move away from the routine way of implementing any infrastructure projects and look for innovative ideas.

Students inside the campus of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.(HT photo)

In a bid to generate new ideas to develop the city and change its landscape, the Delhi government is scouting for fresh graduates — preferably from IIT, IIM and other prestigious institutes — to be part of its creative team.

An official said the government wanted to move away from the routine way of implementing any infrastructure projects and look for innovative ideas. Salaries will range from Rs.50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh.

“The Delhi government proposes to conceive, plan and execute several important projects in a time-bound manner in the next 2-3 years. The projects could be related to schools, hospitals, housing, smart city, elevated roads, redesigning roads or streetscaping. We believe young professionals can implement the same project in a different manner. We want them to join the government on contract,” said an official.

The public works department (PWD) has been appointed as nodal agency to employ these graduates. “Any new project requires elaborate process of brainstorming and planning — not only for design and innovative structural concepts but also for finding new and alternative methods of financing and executing them in minimum cost and time. We require young professionals who always thought that a certain way of doing things was always possible but was never implemented in the government. They can approach the PWD now,” the official added.

The government had recently decided to adopt the Swiss challenge method of procurement where anyone can give a proposal that could be given priority. The Delhi cabinet approved the plan and ideas related to transport, housing, communication, redevelopment, roads, water, security, tourism and environment would be invited from individuals or companies.

Before that, the PWD had announced a Rs 2.5-lakh reward for any individual or company who prepared a perfect design for a skywalk at ITO. As the metro and railway line are not at the same height and there are three crossings within 1 km, the PWD wanted to have a long skywalk to connect offices and the metro stations.

The government has also decided to redesign over 50km roads across the capital in order to make them friendly for pedestrians and physically-challenged people as well to promote public transport. To begin with, the government has chosen 10 arterial roads as a pilot project.